San Pedro Tapanatepec is a town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

in southeastern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. It is part of the

Juchitán District Juchitán District is located in the east of the Istmo de Tehuantepec region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico and the easternmost district in Oaxaca, covering the southern part of a low-lying corridor through the mountains that separates the Gulf of ...

in the west of the

Istmo de Tehuantepec Istmo de Tehuantepec is the largest region of the state of Oaxaca, located in southeastern Mexico. Geography It covers the southern part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the shortest route between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean before t ...

region.

History

The town was founded on 23 April 1669, and became a municipality on March 15, 1825. The name means "broken hill". Before the arrival of the Spanish, the town was inhabited by

Zoque people The Zoque are an Indigenous people of Mexico, who are related to the Mixe. They speak various languages, also called Zoque, which has several branches and dialects. The Zoque consists of 41,609 people, according to the 2000 census. They live ma ...

, and may have been part of the Xoconochco province of the Zapotec kingdom of

Tehuantepec Tehuantepec (, in full, Santo Domingo Tehuantepec) is a city and municipality in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region. The area was important in pre-Hispanic per ...

Geography

The municipality covers an area of 544.78 km². The town is at an elevation of 40 meters above sea level. There is one river, the Novillero, which rises at El Potrerito in the Sierra Madre. The climate is warm, sub-humid with summer rains. Flora include mesquite, mango, sapodilla, lemon, tepezcohuite, pochote, low scrub and grassland. Wild fauna include wild boar, rabbit, coyote, deer, armadillo and iguana.

Population

As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 13,647 of whom 609 spoke an indigenous language.

Economy

Economic activity included growing corn, sorghum, sesame, watermelon, melon, mango and lemon, and raising cattle, goats, sheep, horses and poultry. Dairy farming is important in the community. The town also has facilities for canning fruit.

References

{{Juchitán District Municipalities of Oaxaca